Azerbaijan will be in a lower stature in terms of American interests and priorities than it has today, American analyst believes.

E. Wayne Merry, a senior fellow for Europe and Eurasia at the American Foreign Policy Council, commented on anti-western rhetoric backed by the Azeri government in an interview with TURAN agency.

“Unfortunately, the political leadership in Baku is showing to be insulated, detached from the understanding of changing events in the outside world, very unable to comprehend either European, or American priorities in issues, like development of rule of law,” E. Wayne Merry, a senior fellow for Europe and Eurasia at the American Foreign Policy Council, said in an interview with TURAN’s Washington correspondent.

Asked whether the regional developments, such as American-Iranian possible rapprochement, might affect US’s priorities to the region, Merry said, although recent steps between Washington and Tehran are “encouraging,” however, regardless of that, “the importance priority not just of Azerbaijan, but of the Central Caucasus region in general for the US is in decline.” 

Part of that has to do with the end of the American engagement in Afghanistan, while it is also about “other US foreign policy priorities and commitments in the other parts of the world. “ Five years from now, he added, Azerbaijan “will be in a lower stature in terms of American interests and priorities than it has today, and significantly lower than it has been in the past.”

As the economic context of Azerbaijan is shifting from being focus on oil to gas, the analyst warns Baku regarding the new challenges ahead.

“The easy years of economic prosperity, based on oil, are now coming to an end, and a much more challenging period of economic development lies ahead,” he said.